Did you know that 60% of Lose It! members have lost more weight using activity trackers alongside their weight-loss program than users without? In fact, in a recent survey one-third of Lose It! members reported they couldn’t achieve their goals without an activity tracker. The survey aimed to uncover how people interact with their activity trackers as part of their commitment to living a healthier lifestyle.

Through the Lose It! member survey (which was answered by 5,000 of you) we learned that people who wear activity trackers to get a better picture of their overall activity level and eating levels tend to wear their trackers longer than the general public. 87% of respondents to the Lose It! survey wear their tracker every day, and 78% have used an activity tracker for a year or more. This is in contrast to a recent report from Endeavors Partners that found that the general public abandons their activity tracker after just six months of use.

Our survey showed that 92% of Lose It! members believe their tracker helps them stay motivated; with 40% reporting they purchased an activity tracker to help them lose weight, and 45% purchasing trackers to be more active. Despite the basic functionality of activity trackers, the fewest number of respondents said they purchased trackers solely to count their steps.Charles Teague, Lose It! CEO, says, “While our survey showed that 86% of members believe their trackers accurately capture their step counts, it also revealed how powerful these wearable devices are in helping members stay motivated to lose the weight and change their lifestyle habits. We continue to focus on giving our members the flexibility to lose weight in ways that work for them, which is why we sync with such a wide range of devices. We love seeing our members achieve such powerful, personalized results.”

Whether psychological or physical, the future of consumer demand for trackers remains strong. 94% of survey respondents indicated they will still be using their activity tracker a few months down the road.

How do you use your tracker with Lose It!? Do you think it’s going to help you achieve your next weight loss goal? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter!

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Wow– that’s all we can say! Our first Lose It! challenge of the year, Make Healthy Happen, was nothing short of AMAZING! While we’re sad to see this four week challenge end, we’re excited to share the amazing accomplishments of all 79,314 participants.

A huge thanks to our Make Healthy Happen partners, EatingWell magazine and FITNESS magazine. We hope you enjoyed their tasty recipes and calorie-torching workouts as much as we did!

Congrats to each of you who participated! We truly hope you had a great experience and feel energized to Make Healthy Happen all year-long! To stay on track we suggest joining another Lose It! challenge– in February we’re running Cupid’s 5 Pound Challenge and the Valentine’s Cardio Blaster.

Did you like our Make Healthy Happen challenge? We welcome your feedback– drop us a line at support@loseit.com!

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This week’s blog post is brought to you by one of the Lose It! Ambassadors, Ashley Richey! Ashley’s successfully lost 50 pounds using Lose It! and has her sights set on losing 30 more pounds. She’s an expert at saving money and has some advice to share for updating your wardrobe without breaking your budget.

One of the best and worst problems to have when you are losing weight is your clothes becoming too big. You always think it’s going to be a joyous occasion to replace your whole wardrobe because nothing fits – until you actually have to do it!

Replacing all of your clothes can be a daunting task, especially if you still have weight to lose and know you won’t be the same size for a long time. Let’s face it: you didn’t buy all of your clothes in one day, so having to replace them all at once is expensive and not practical for most people on a budget. Because I have been there and I still am there (I’ve been everything from a size 20 to a size 8), I have discovered some tips and tricks to buying cute clothes on a budget.

(1) Thrift Stores

I have found so many cute outfits at thrift stores. I’m not talking about faded and worn generic clothes, either. I’m talking about brand new, department store clothes that still have tags on them! Lots of these items are very much in style (maybe even donated by someone else going through a weight loss journey!). If you’ve never shopped at a thrift store, I must warn you that it there are a few things to keep in mind:

Learn the art of “digging.” Clothing is typically sorted into racks for Men, Women and Children, but that’s about it. If you find a store that actually sorts by size, put it into your regular shopping rotation! I never go into a thrift store thinking I’m going to just be in and out – that’s a rookie mistake. You have to take your time; stake your claim on a part of a rack and look at every single item of clothing. If you don’t, you’re bound to miss something good. If you’re not in the right mood to spend time digging, don’t even bother– no need to stress yourself out and leave with nothing, or worse, something you didn’t really want.

When you’re in the mood to go thrifting, give my tried-and-true system a shot. I push everything back as far as it will go on the rack, then pull the items towards me one by one. If something looks interesting, I check for the right size and pull it off the rack. Then, I hold it up to the light to check for wear, stains, holes, etc. and to see if it’s the “color of the day.” (Pro tip: Most thrift stores have a “color of the day”, which means everything with that color tag comes with a discount– usually 25-50% off!) This system, my friends, is how I was able to score a pair of designer jeans for $3- with the tags still on! (Thank you, thank you very much!)

I fill a cart with items that passed my initial off-the-rack quality test. When I’m finished shopping, I go through each item and think about whether or not I will actually wear it. If the answer is yes, I move on to determine if it’s a great deal. Be conscientious of brands and what things normally cost. If I know I can get something on sale at Old Navy for $10 brand new, I’m not going to pay $5 for it used. Once I’ve scaled down my cart (even I, a seasoned pro, can be enchanted by low prices and impulsively grab things that I would never wear) I take my bounty to the register and check out.

Thrift store shopping allows you to pull together some really cute low-cost outfits, PLUS you are likely helping out a local or national charity. That feels even better when those cute clothes you bought get too big and you donate them back! Check your favorite store’s donation policies, too. Some stores will give you a coupon when you make a donation. Stack that with “color of the day” deals, and you’ve got quite the bargain!

(2) Consignment Stores

Shopping in thrift stores is hit or miss – you never know if you’re going to find tons of awesome deals in a day or nothing at all. When you need something very specific, you might be better off checking out a consignment shop. At consignment stores, people resell gently used clothing and accessories. Check one out if you’re looking for a cocktail dress for an office party or formal dress for the cruise you’re taking after you reach your goal.

Another awesome tip: you can take your nice clothes that are too big for you and resell them! Be sure to ask about their consignment policies in advance. In many instances, stores will give you more in store credit than cash for your items, which works out well if you also plan on shopping there.

(3) Coupons and discounts

Always be on the look out for sales and clearance racks, and of course, use coupons! There are very few instances where you would ever need to pay full price for anything as long as you do your homework. If I find something that’s not on sale or I’m in a pinch, I quickly search RetailMeNot.com. I have gotten tons of coupons that way. They also have an app for smartphones!

Search for discount blogs: there are lots of blogs online where people will post the best deals each day. My favorite one is Passion for Savings. She does a fantastic job of breaking down the best deals and matching coupons. Have some favorite stores? It’s worth seeing if your favorites have a mailing list for their frequent shopper programs. You can score great deals straight to your inbox!

(4) Online Garage Sales

Online Garage Sales are different since you’re dealing person to person. It’s the same concept as purchasing from Craigslist, except you can see the person who is posting their ad because it’s being done from their Facebook profile. To find sites like this, just search “Online Garage Sale” and the name of your city on Facebook. There should be several groups to choose from.

Naturally, people often view their sale items through rose colored glasses. Make sure to see clear pictures and check for rips or stains. Ask very specific questions to find factors that would sway you from buying the items– like if the items have been in a smoking or pet environment.

You’ll be meeting someone that you probably don’t know to buy these items so use your best judgement: always meet in a public place and bring someone with you. If something feels weird about it, don’t go! If you feel safe and set on the deal, you can score great local finds.

(5) Other helpful advice

Try on everything before you buy it. Most thrift store sales are final, or a limited store-credit-only return policy, Recently, I fell in love with a shirt in a consignment store and had already imagined three different outfits I could put together with it– until I tried it on and realized it looked awful on me

Buy for your current body. Purchasing clothes a size (or 3) smaller than you are now might seem like a great idea to motivate you, but don’t do it (I’ve made this mistake!) It’s no fun to get home with all of those cute clothes and not be able to wear them right away. The whole idea is to celebrate your new body… you know, the one you been working hard at getting to! Wearing your new sized clothes will boost your confidence and that will help you stay motivated. Save the smaller clothes for when you reach that size. It will happen; you will get there!

There you go! These are my tips for finding cute clothes that fit without spending a lot of money (don’t believe me? check out pictures below of the items I scored one day for under $35!). Pretty soon, you will be reveling in all of your friends’ compliments and they’ll be begging you for your shopping tips and fashion advice. As you smile sweetly and thank them, know that you are not only losing weight and looking awesome; you are also the world’s savviest shopper!

Lose It! Ambassador Ashley Richey is our resident girly-girl (we mean this in a good way!). She’s got the low down on all things fashion, shopping and dressing to emphasize your best features! Be sure to say hello to Ashley when you see her around the Lose It! community!

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I didn’t wake up one day shocked to learn I weighed 241 pounds (about 100 pounds more than what’s considered a healthy weight for a woman my age). Instead, I gradually put on that excess weight over a span of 13 years. There were many years of being lazy and avoiding physical activity, on top of eating and drinking whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Consuming calories became my crutch– I was pretty unhappy at the time, and filling that sadness with food was a quick fix. (Unfortunately the fix was always temporary.)

I eventually ended up in the emergency room with a pulmonary embolism in 2005 that nearly took my life. Even after that scary event, I continued down that destructive path. I did try a variety of diets including eating once a day, juice cleanses/detoxes, meal replacement shakes. The problem was that I was always hungry and still had bad cravings. The cravings were worse during these attempts because my diet was so unbalanced. Despite my attempts to lose weight on these “diets”, I never lost more than about 11 pounds on them, and I always regained the weight once I started eating more normally again. In 2010, I resorted to getting a gastric band. I lost about 30 pounds after the surgery, but quickly gained it back.

I turned 40 in January 2014 and the realization that half my life was over, combined with being overweight and the feeling of having accomplished so little, left me feeling desperate and guilty. I felt guilty mostly for the constant abuse of my body. “Your body works really hard for you, so take care of it,” I thought to myself.

Michelle (before)

Michelle (before)

Michelle (before)

In March of 2014, a friend introduced me to Lose It!. I’d never tried anything like Lose It! before, so it was a completely new experience for me. I started by counting my food calories, and slowly added in walking the trail near my workplace for exercise. Once I got into the routine of moving more, I realized how much I liked exercise, especially outside — it felt great to work my heart and lungs in the fresh air. Eventually I started hiking, swimming and weight-lifting, too.

It felt great to add physical activity to my routine. Unfortunately, life threw me a curve balland during one of my hikes I fell and sprained my ankle. Not only did it hurt, physically, but it also worried me how I was going to get exercise while I healed. I knew I couldn’t walk on it but i was determined to keep up with my new active routine, so I turned to swimming. I actually didn’t know how to swim at first, but I learned by meeting up with my best friend at our local pool twice per week. She taught me how to relax in the water– which was something that took some work! Now, thanks to her coaching and my determination, I’m proud to say I can swim a mean freestyle and breaststroke! Having accomplished this feels good because it’s always something I’ve wanted to do!

I really liked Lose It! from the start because it kept me organized. I finally felt like I had some control! I track everything on Lose It!. It’s a really helpful tool for keeping my calories in check and watching how much I burn with exercise. For me, it’s fun to see how high I can get those burns each day! As of today, the most calories I’ve burned in one day (January 7, 2015) was 2,211. I burned those calories through treadmill walking (with an incline of 18), high intensity interval training, hill climbing and swimming. I’m still going to try to beat that!

One of my biggest sources of motivation is the Lose It! badges — earning them makes me feel proud of myself. I was most excited when I earned the 75 pound badge– talk about a happy weigh-in! I got pretty pumped for the Molten badge as well, which I earned for working out HARD for 16 weeks straight!

The journey hasn’t always been pleasant, and there have certainly been bad days, but there have been a lot of great days too. A bad weigh-in or unplanned cheat almost always left me in a foul mood for the day and made everything more difficult. I wanted to quit on several occasions. Through this journey I’ve learned that if you just move past the ugly feelings and move forward, thenumber on the scale will continue to go down.

As of January 2015, I have lost 86 pounds and I am down 6 sizes. I am still working towards my ultimate goal of losing one hundred pounds. I feel so good about myself! It has taken 9 long months to get where I am and I wouldn’t go back for anything in the world now. Not only has my physical health improved, but my mental health, too– I’m a lot happier now!

Michelle (after)

Michelle (after)

Michelle (after)

Michelle (after)

I have some words of advice to those reading this story and considering a weight loss path: Figure out exactly what it is that you want to achieve – set a realistic goal. Don’t just say, “I want to lose weight,” because that’s not going to be enough. Prepare your mind and body for an arduous and emotionally difficult, but rewarding journey. Know that there will be high points and low points. Keep going, because you CAN do it and be successful.

Do you have a success story of your own that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you! Contact story@loseit.com.

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Good news! Lose It! 6.0.1 was approved and released to the iOS app store today. Thank you to our users for sharing your detailed feedback regarding our 6.0 release. We were able to make some tweaks and bug fixes in this release and we’ll continue working on additional improvements for future releases.

Here’s a quick list of what’s new in 6.0.1:

Nutrient grams added to the nutrients pie chart

Net calories added to My Day screen

Reminders added to the basic version of the app

Projected goal line added to the weight graph

Font fine tuning and color fine tuning for iPhone and iPad

A variety of other small bug fixes

As always, we welcome your feedback on this release or anything else Lose It! related. Send us an email to share your thoughts.

This week’s post is brought to you by our Lose It! Ambassador Jory Stiffarm. Take it away Jory!

Pasta, pasta, pasta…

What better comfort food is there, especially this time of year when the temperatures start to fall and our bodies are thinking of hibernating until Spring? Pasta is delicious, but can add lots of calories to our meals. There are so many kinds of pasta on the market, including high fiber and whole grain/wheat, which do help to offset some of the calories. However, I have discovered some better alternatives! Each is a little unique – and they have all helped to contribute to my 120 pound weight loss.

1. Zucchini Noodles (aka “Zoodles”)

Some of you may have seen the infomercial for The Veggetti. It is the handheld gizmo that turns veggies into noodles. I bought one at Walmart for under $15, and it works well for cutting zucchini into noodles, or “zoodles.” (Pro tip: be very careful as the cutting blade is very sharp– I found this out the hard way!) Once your zoodles are cut, pop them into a pot of boiling water and cook for only a couple of minutes or they will turn into mush. Zoodles are fragile, so be sure to handle them with care. I like to toss my cooked zoodles with a variety of stir-fry veggies for a healthy meal option.

I’ve also tried making vegetable lasagna (without pre-cooking the zoodles). It turned out tasting good, but the zucchini adds extra “water” to the dish. Keep that in mind as you try zucchini noodle recipes.

Zoodling does take a little bit of time; the next two pasta alternatives are great if you need a pasta swap that can be prepared quickly!

2. Spaghetti Squash

I have never been a squash fan, but was curious to see what all the chatter was about when it comes to spaghetti squash. It seemed like I was hearing about this mystery squash all the time! A squash that looks like spaghetti? I had to see it to believe it.

The first step was figuring out how to pick out a good spaghetti squash at the grocery store. I asked a shopper in the produce section and was told to look for one that was:

a) firm all the way around b) with a nice even yellow color and smooth skin. Okay – I’ve got my squash, now what?!

The biggest challenge in preparing a spaghetti squash is cutting it in half. They are tough! I learned that it is easier to cut it in half around the middle rather than from stem to bottom. Once you wrestle the squash into two halves, scoop out the seeds like you would a Halloween pumpkin and discard. (If you are feeling adventurous you can even roast these like you would pumpkin seeds). I like to cook half of the squash at a time, because a raw squash in a Ziploc bag will keep in the refrigerator longer than a cooked half.

To cook your squash, place it cut side down in a microwave safe dish. Poke 2-3 holes through your squash (I use my meat thermometer as it easily penetrates the tough outer skin). This will allow the squash to vent while cooking. I’ve haven’t heard of a squash exploding in the microwave, but poking holes would prevent that possibility. Next, add a little water (1/4-1/2”) to the bottom of your dish and microwave for ten minutes on high. Be careful when removing it from the microwave, as the water in the bottom of the dish will be very hot as well as your squash. I let mine set for a few minutes while I’m preparing the rest of my meal. After your squash has had a few minutes to cool, pick it up with a pot holder and hold it in the palm of your hand. With a table fork, scrape the inside of the squash into a bowl or plate. It truly looks like spaghetti!

I’ve eaten my cooked squash with some spaghetti sauce and also some light Bertolli Alfredo sauce– both are very good! The texture is a little crunchier than normal spaghetti, but I find it is a great substitute for the higher calorie pasta (at 31 calories a cup). I highly recommend giving this a try, even if you aren’t a squash person.

3. Tofu Noodles

You’re probably thinking, “Tofu noodles… you’ve gotta be joking!” But wait, wait, WAIT! Hear me out! I reacted the same way when I started reading about them. I finally got brave enough to buy a bag in the vegetarian produce section of the market. Admittedly, they sat unopened in the refrigerator before I gathered enough courage to give them a try.

The first and most important step, in my opinion, is what you do right after you open and drain the bag. Do not smell the tofu noodles! I repeat– DO NOT SMELL THE TOFU NOODLES! They smell awful. When I prepare these noodles, I turn on the cold water at the kitchen sink, cut the bag and dump into a strainer right under the running water. I use a fork and swirl, swirl, swirl the noodles for several minutes under the running faucet. When you start to feel brave, give them a sniff. If you can smell them, continue rinsing for a couple more minutes.

I’ve found these noodles in two sizes – angel hair spaghetti and fettuccine (my preference). Both types are very long so while the noodles are in the strainer, I give them several cuts. When satisfied with the rinse, turn them out on paper town and pat dry. If you’ve had tofu before, you know that it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it. Patting the noodles will allow them to absorb more of the flavor from your other ingredients.

These are great for ethnic dishes. I’ve used them in all sorts of dishes from Italian to Mexican to Asian. Tofu noodles are already cooked so just toss them in with the rest of your ingredients at the end of cooking for just a few minutes and you’re ready to go. One entire 8 oz bag is only 30 calories! The texture is very close to “real” pasta. My favorite meal is Fettucine Hungry Girlfredo (recipe below).

The amazing part of this dish? The entire meal is only 99 calories! Yes, you get to eat the whole thing and it’s a lot of food. Often times I’ll even throw in some vegetables and sometimes a can of low sodium white chicken breast. The additional calories need to be added in but it’s a great meal and very satisfying.

There are other pasta options out there, but I’m happy with these three in my pocket!

Be adventurous and give zoodles, spaghetti squash, or tofu noodles a try if you haven’t already. Before Lose It! I didn’t eat many vegetables. Believe it or not, just this year (at age 55) I gave carrots a chance and discovered that I love them! The details behind that story may be the topic of a future blog, so stay tuned!

Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray over medium heat. Break apart the cheese wedge and pop into the skillet along with the grated parmesan cheese. With a spatula mash the cheeses together into a paste consistency.

Once it has started to melt, add your tofu noodles and stir to coat. The cheese may clump, but a rubber spatula works well to combine them. This is a good time to add any additional seasonings, like crushed red pepper flakes to add some zip. Once your noodles have heated through (just a couple of minutes), remove the pan from the burner and stir in your sour cream.

Now the most important part….DIG IN!!!! If you want to add some veggies or chicken, I usually add them and heat them through before I add the noodles. Pre-cooked cauliflower, broccoli and mushrooms work really well. I’ve added in brussels sprouts before, which are also very good! Again, this recipe, yes the ENTIRE RECIPE, is only 99 calories (without veggies and meat).

More about Jory Stiffarm, the author of this post: Jory enjoys trying new recipes and inventing new ways to save on calories. If you see Jory around the Lose It! community be sure to say hello or add her as a friend!